BlackBerry Considers New Tablet

BlackBerry’s PlayBook hasn’t made much of a mark on the global tablet market.

Despite disappointing sales with its PlayBook tablet Research In Motion Ltd. is evaluating whether it should make another push into the increasingly crowded tablet computer market.

“We are looking at future tablets, and how we can continue to play in the tablet business,” said David J. Smith, head of RIM’s mobile computing business. “We are definitely very interested in the tablet market. It’s a challenging market, but I still think people want to see a range of different products.”

Mr. Smith, who until recently oversaw RIM’s PlayBook tablet team, wouldn’t elaborate on how far the company’s new tablet plans have gone or if it is close to make any announcements. He described the tablet market as “incredibly competitive” and noted that very few device makers are making any money selling tablets.

On the eve of the Mobile World Congress, which started in Barcelona on Monday Samsung Electronics Co. launched an eight-inch tablet, called the Galaxy Note 8.0, which will go on sale globally in the second quarter. The device will compete directly with Apple 's 7.9-inch iPad Mini, which the U.S. technology giant started selling last October.

Meanwhile Hewlett-Packard Co. said it will make a tablet computer, also using Android, steering clear of Microsoft Corp.'s latest tablet-oriented version of Windows. Microsoft has also made a push with own tablet hardware in the form of its Surface tablet.

Mr. Smith said the current BlackBerry PlayBook which first started selling in 2011 and last year came in a new version capable of connecting to fourth generation data networks, will be updated to run the revamped version of BlackBerry’s operating system, BlackBerry 10, which also powers BlackBerry’s new Z10 and Q10 smartphones.

BlackBerry’s PlayBook hasn’t made much of a mark on the global tablet market, with a few regional exceptions such as the U.K. where the device has sold in decent numbers. In the latest quarter, ended Dec. 1, BlackBerry sold 255,000 PlayBook tablets. Apple Inc., the tablet market leader, sold 22.9 million iPads in its latest quarter, ended Dec. 29.